Gujarati play on Godse cancelled amid protests in Ahmedabad

A controversial Gujarati play was performed in Surat, Vadodara, and Bhavnagar on February 4, 5 and 6 during its Gujarat tour without any controversy.

IMAGE: The Mahatma Gandhi assassination trial at the special court at the Red Fort on May 27, 1948.
Front row, left to right: Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and Vishnu Ramkrishna Karkare.
Seated behind, left to right: Digambar Badge, Shankar Kistaiya, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (wearing a black cap), Gopal Godse and Dattatraya Sadashiv Parachure. Photograph: Photodivision

Key Points

The play, 'Hu Nathuram,' (Me Nathuram), was scheduled to be staged at 9 PM at Pandit Deendayal Auditorium in Ahmedabad.
Youth Congress and NSUI activists protested against the play, alleging it glorified Godse's actions.
The play faced prior disruptions and cancellations in Rajkot and Jamnagar before the Ahmedabad cancellation.
Congress leaders argue the play is an attempt by the RSS to justify Godse's assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
The play's producer defends the production, stating it does not glorify Godse and that violence against the play is hypocritical.

The scheduled staging of a Gujarati play themed on Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse was cancelled on Monday in Ahmedabad amid protests by activists of Youth Congress and NSUI who alleged that the drama was a "glorification" attempt.

The play, Hu Nathuram' (Me Nathuram), was scheduled to be staged at 9 PM at Pandit Deendayal Auditorium in Ahmedabad, organisers said.

"The play was performed in Surat, Vadodara, and Bhavnagar on February 4, 5 and 6 during its Gujarat tour without any controversy. However, it ran into trouble after Youth Congress activists vandalised the set at Rajkot where it was scheduled to be performed on February 7," said Jayesh Oza, an organiser.

Subsequently, the shows were cancelled in Jamnagar and Ahmedabad on February 8 and 9, respectively, he added.

Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda alleged the play is an attempt by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to prove Godse right for his act (assassinating Mahatma Gandhi).

"We won't allow staging of such plays in Gandhiji's Gujarat as long as Congress and the people who follow Gandhiji's ideology are here," he said.

Echoing Chavda, his colleague and Congress spokesperson Parthivrajsinh Kathvadia said the party won't allow glorification of Godse through such plays.

"The people of Gujarat rejected Godse's ideas. After Rajkot and Jamnagar, the play has now been cancelled in Ahmedabad as well. Godse has always been a villain for Gujarat and India, and Gandhiji was, is, and will remain a hero of India and the world," he said.

The play's producer, Sejal Painter, took a dim view of the vandalism of the set, saying that we would have explained the theme of the play had they discussed their objection with us peacefully.

"Those people who are opposing and vandalising the set of the play should not have resorted to violence if they call themselves followers of Gandhiji. We haven't made Nathuram a hero. In the play, Nathuram's character says, 'If I killed Gandhiji, then I too must die," she said.